Slaying of priest described

The man accused of beating a Dallas priest to death with a hammer may have avoided leaving bloody fingerprints by using a pair of socks as makeshift gloves, a Dallas police detective testified Thursday.

The testimony came during a preliminary hearing for David Burton Nesbitt, who is charged with capital murder in the Nov. 6 killing of the Rev. Anthony Boake.

Detective Harry O. Morrell said an anonymous tipster telephoned investigators two days after the attack. The caller told detectives about an encounter with Mr. Nesbitt.

“He said Mr. Nesbitt had come to the apartment covered in blood, with socks on his hands, admitting to killing the priest,” Detective Morrell said.

Father Boake was pastor of Saints Constantine and Helen Antiochian Orthodox Church.

Father Boake’s roommate found the priest’s body about 1:30 a.m. Nov. 6 in their home next to the church in the 3700 block of Walnut Hill Lane in northwest Dallas. The priest’s car had been stolen and his desk drawers rifled, the detective said.

Detective Morrell said investigators found Mr. Nesbitt’s fingerprints on an empty beer bottle inside the house. They also found smears of blood that could have been made by someone wearing socks on their hands. Other smudges of blood might yield usable fingerprints, he said.

Detective Morrell said the roommate gave investigators the names of two possible suspects – Mr. Nesbitt and a second man. The second man was in jail at the time of the attack.

“David was our prime suspect from Day 1,” Detective Morrell said.

Police arrested Mr. Nesbitt in northwest Dallas on Nov. 8, after receiving the anonymous tip. They found Father Boake’s car several blocks away and recovered a hammer from a creek. No bloody socks were recovered, the detective said.

Mr. Nesbitt, a day laborer, was to be on parole until 2005 on a burglary conviction.

Detective Morrell said police believe that Mr. Nesbitt and Father Boake had known each other for some time, but his testimony shed no light on the nature of their relationship.

Detective Morrell also said that one witness in the case had received a phone call from jail since Mr. Nesbitt’s arrest and that the witness, who was not identified, was in fear for his or her life.

County Criminal Court Judge Phil Barker ruled prosecutors had enough evidence to present the case to a grand jury for possible indictment. He also ordered Mr. Nesbitt held without bond.